CHAPTER FIVE.
EXPLANATIONS.
In the explanations that followed, no one showed a livelier interestthan Peggy herself. She was in her element answering the questionswhich were showered upon her, and took an artistic pleasure in thesuccess of her plot.
"You see," she explained, "I knew you would all be talking about me, andwondering what I was like, just as I was thinking about you. As I wasArthur's sister, I knew you would be sure to imagine me a mischievoustom-boy, so I came to the conclusion that the best way to shock youwould be to be quite too awfully proper and well-behaved. I neverenjoyed anything so much in my life as that first tea-time, when you alllooked dumb with astonishment. I had made up my mind to go on for aweek, but mother is coming to-morrow, and I couldn't keep it up beforeher, so I was obliged to explode to-night. Besides, I'm really quitefatigued with being good--"
"And are you--are you--really not proper, after all?" gasped Mellicentblankly; whereat Peggy clasped her hands in emphatic protest.
"Proper! Oh, my dear, I am the most awful person. I am always gettinginto trouble. You know what Arthur was? Well, I tell you truly, he isnothing to me. It's an extraordinary thing. I have excellentintentions, but I seem bound to get into scrapes. There was a teacherat Brighton, Miss Baker,--a dear old thing. I called her `Buns.'--Shevowed and declared that I shortened her life by bringing on palpitationof the heart. I set the dressing-table on fire by spilling matches andcrunching them beneath my heels. It was not a proper dressing-table,you know--just a wooden thing frilled round with muslin. We had twoblazes in the last term. And a dreadful thing occurred! Would youbelieve that I was actually careless enough to sit down on the top ofher best Sunday hat, and squash it as flat as a pancake!"
Despite her protestations of remorse, Peggy's voice had an exultant ringas she detailed the history of her escapades, and Esther shrewdlysuspected that she was by no means so penitent as she declared. She puton her most severe expression, and said sternly--
"You must be dreadfully careless. It is to be hoped you will be morecareful here, for your room is far-away from ours, and you might beburned to death before anyone discovered you. Mother never allowsanyone to read in bed in this house, and she is most particular aboutmatches. You wouldn't like to be burned to a cinder all by yourselfsome fine night, I should say?"
"No, I shouldn't--or on a wet one either. It would be so lonely," saidPeggy calmly. "No; I am a reformed character about matches. I supporthome industries, and go in for safeties, which `strike only on the box.'But the boys would rescue me." She turned with a smile, and beamedupon the three tall lads. "Wouldn't you, boys? If you hear mesquealing any night, don't stop to think. Just catch up your ewers ofwater, and rush to my bedroom. We might get up an amateur fire-brigade,to be in readiness. You three would be the brigade, and I would be thecaptain and train you. It would be capital fun. At any moment I couldgive the signal, and then, whatever you were doing--playing,--working,--eating,--or on cold frosty nights, just when you were going to bed, offyou would have to rush, and get out your fire-buckets. Sometimes youmight have to break the ice, but there's nothing like being prepared.We might have the first rehearsal to-night--"
"It's rather funny to hear you talking of being captain over the boys,because the day we heard that you were coming, they all said that ifthey were to be bothered with a third girl in the house, you would haveto make yourself useful, and that you should be their fag. Max said so,and so did Oswald, and then Robert said they shouldn't have you. He hadlots of little odd things he wanted done, and he could make you veryuseful. He said the other boys shouldn't have you; you were hisproperty."
"Tut, tut!" said Peggy pleasantly. She looked at the three scowling,embarrassed faces, and the mocking light danced back into her eyes. "Sothey were all anxious to have me, were they? How nice! I'm gratifiedto hear it. Is there any little thing I can do for your honourable selfnow, Mr Darcy, before I dress for dinner?"
Robert looked across the room at Mellicent with an expression which madethat young person tremble in her shoes.
"All right, young lady, I'll remember you!" he said quietly. "I'vewarned you before about repeating conversations. Now you'll see whathappens. I'll cure you of that little habit, my dear, as sure as myname is Robert Darcy--"
"The Honourable Robert Darcy!" murmured a silvery voice from the otherside of the fireplace. Robert turned his head sharply, but Peggy wasgazing into the coals with an air of lamb-like innocence, and hesubsided into himself with a grunt of displeasure.
The next day Mrs Saville came to lunch, and spent the afternoon at thevicarage. As Maxwell had said, she was a beautiful woman; tall, fair,and elegant, and looking a very fashionable lady when contrasted withMrs Asplin in her well-worn serge, but her face was sad and anxious inexpression. Esther noticed that her eyes filled with tears more thanonce as she looked round the table at the husband and wife and the threetall, well-grown children; and when the two ladies were alone in thedrawing-room she broke into helpless sobbings.
"Oh, how happy you are! How I envy you! Husband, children,--all besideyou. Oh, never, never let one of your girls marry a man who livesabroad. My heart is torn in two; I have no rest. I am always longingfor the one who is not there. I must go back,--the major needs me; butmy Peggy,--my own little girl! It is like death to leave her behind!"
Mrs Asplin put her arms round the tall figure, and rocked her gently toand fro.
"I know! I know!" she said brokenly. "I _ache_ for you, dear; but Iunderstand! I have parted with a child of my own--not for a few years,but for ever, till we meet again in God's heaven. I'll help you everyway I can. I'll watch her night and day; I'll coddle her when she'sill; I'll try to make her a good woman. I'll _love_ her, dear, and sheshall be my own special charge. I'll be a second mother to her."
"You dear, good woman! God bless your kind heart!" said Mrs Savillebrokenly. "I can't help breaking down, but indeed I have much to bethankful for. I can't tell you what a relief it is to feel that she isin this house. The principals of that school at Brighton were all thatis good and excellent, but they did not understand my Peggy." The tearswere still in her eyes, but she broke into a flickering smile at thelast word. "My children have such spirits! I am afraid they really dogive more trouble than other boys and girls, but they are not reallynaughty. They are truthful and generous, and wonderfully warm-hearted.I never needed to punish Peg when she was a little girl; it was enoughto show that she had grieved me. She never did the same thing againafter that; but--oh, dear me!--the ingenuity of that child in findingfresh fields for mischief! Dear Mrs Asplin, I am afraid she will tryyour patience. You must be sure to keep a list of all the breakages andaccidents, and charge them to our account. Peggy is an expensive littleperson. You know what Arthur was."
"Bless him--yes! I had hardly a tumbler left in the house," said MrsAsplin, with gusto. "But I don't grieve myself about a few breakages.I have had too much to do with schoolboys for that!--And now give me allthe directions you can about this precious little maid, while we havethe room to ourselves."
For the next hour there the two ladies sat in conclave about MissPeggy's mental, moral, and physical welfare. Mrs Asplin had a book inher hand, in which from time to time she jotted down notes of a curiousand inconsequent character. "Pay attention to private reading.Gas-fire in her bedroom for chilly weather. See dentist in Christmasholidays. Query: gold plate over eye-tooth? Boots to order, Beavan andCompany, Oxford Street. Cod-liver oil in winter. Careless aboutchanging shoes. Damp brings on throat. Aconite and belladonna." Soon, and so on. There seemed no end to the warnings and instructions ofthis anxious mother; but when all was settled as far as possible, theladies adjourned into the schoolroom to join the young people at theirtea, so that Mrs Saville might be able to picture her daughter'ssurroundings when separated from her by those weary thousands of miles.
"What a bright, cheery room!" she said smilingly, as she took her seatat
the table, and her eyes wandered round as if striving to print thescene in her memory. How many times, as she lay panting beneath theswing of the punkah, she would recall that cool English room, with itsvista of garden through the windows, the long table in the centre, thelittle figure with the pale face and plaited hair, seated midway betweenthe top and bottom! Oh! the moments of longing--of wild, unbearablelonging--when she would feel that she must break loose from herprison-house and fly away,--that not the length of the earth itselfcould keep her back, that she would be willing to give up life itselfjust to hold Peggy in her arms for five minutes, to kiss the sweet lips,to meet the glance of the loving eyes--
But this would never do! Had she not vowed to be cheerful? The youngfolks were looking at her with troubled glances. She roused herself,and said briskly--
"I see you make this a playroom as well as a study. Somebody has beenwood-carving over there, and you have one of those dwarfbilliard-tables. I want to give a present to this room--something thatwill be a pleasure and occupation to you all; but I can't make up mymind what would be best. Can you give me a few suggestions? Is thereanything that you need, or that you have fancied you might like?"
"It's very kind of you," said Esther warmly; and echoes of "Very kind!"came from every side of the table, while boys and girls stared at eachother in puzzled consideration. Maxwell longed to suggest a joiner'sbench, but refrained out of consideration for the girls' feelings.Mellicent's eager face, however, was too eloquent to escape attention,and Mrs Saville smiled at her in an encouraging manner.
"Well, dear, what is it? Don't be afraid. I mean something really niceand handsome; not just a little thing. Tell me what you thought?"
"A--a new violin!" cried Mellicent eagerly. "Mine is so old andsqueaky, and my teacher said I needed a new one badly. A new violinwould be nicest of all."
Mrs Saville looked round the table, caught an expressive grimace goingthe round of three boyish faces, and raised her eyebrows inquiringly.
"Yes? Whatever you like best, of course. It is all the same to me.But would the violin be a pleasure to all? What about the boys?"
"They would hear me play! The pieces would sound nicer. They wouldlike to hear them."
"Ahem!" coughed Maxwell loudly; and at that there was a universal shriekof merriment. Peggy's clear "Ho! ho!" rang out above the rest, and hermother looked at her with sparkling eyes. Yes, yes, yes; the child washappy! She had settled down already into the cheery, wholesome life ofthe vicarage, and was in her element among these merry boys and girls!She hugged the thought to her heart, finding in it her truest comfort.The laughter lasted several minutes, and broke out intermittently fromtime to time as that eloquent cough recurred to memory, but after all itwas Mellicent who was the one to give the best suggestion.
"Well then, a--a what-do-you-call-it!" she cried. "A thing-um-me-bob!One of those three-legged things for taking photographs! The boys lookso silly sometimes, rolling about together in the garden, and we haveoften and often said, `Don't you wish we could take their photographs?They _would_ look such frights!' We could have ever so much fun with awhat-do-you-call-it?"
"Ah, that's something like!" "Good business." "Oh, wouldn't it besweet!" came the quick exclamations; and Mrs Saville looked mostpleased and excited of all.
"A camera!" she cried. "What a charming idea! Then you would be ableto take photographs of Peggy and the whole household, and send them outfor me to see. How delightful! That is a happy thought, Mellicent. Iam so grateful to you for thinking of it, dear. I'll buy a really goodlarge one, and all the necessary materials, and send them down at once.Do any of you know how to set to work?"
"I do, Mrs Saville," Oswald said. "I had a small camera of my own, butit got smashed some years ago. I can show them how to begin, and wewill take lots of photographs of Peggy for you, in groups and byherself. They mayn't be very good at first, but you will be interestedto see her in different positions. We will take her walking, andbicycling, and sitting in the garden, and every way we can think of--"
"And whenever she has a new dress or hat, so that you may know what theyare like," added Mellicent anxiously. "Are her hats going to be thesame as ours, or is she to choose them for herself?"
"She may choose them for herself, subject, of course, to your mother'srefraining influence. If she were to develop a fondness for scarletfeathers, for instance, I think Mrs Asplin should interfere; but Peggyhas good taste. I don't think she will go far wrong," said the girl'smother, looking at her fondly; and the little white face quivered beforeit broke into its sunny, answering smile.
Three times that evening, after Mrs Saville had left, did hercompanions surprise the glitter of tears in Peggy's eyes; but there wasa dignified reserve about her manner which forbade outspoken sympathy.Even when she was discovered to be quietly crying behind her book, whenMaxwell flipped it mischievously out of her hands,--even then did Peggypreserve her wonderful self-possession. The tears were trickling downher cheeks, and her poor little nose was red and swollen, but she lookedup at Maxwell without a quiver, and it was he who stood gaping beforeher, aghast and miserable.
"Oh, I say! I'm fearfully sorry!"
"So am I," said Peggy severely. "It was rude, and not at all funny.And it injures the book. I have always been taught to reverence books,and treat them as dear and valued companions. Pick it up, please.Thank you. Don't do it again." She hitched herself round in her chair,and settled down once more to her reading, while Maxwell slunk back tohis seat. When Peggy was offended she invariably fell back uponMariquita's grandiose manner, and the sting of her sharp little tongueleft her victims dumb and smarting.